Inductors are commonly used passive devices that find use in a wide assortment of circuits. With the development of integrated circuits (ICs), methods have been developed to integrate inductors into ICs. One such approach involves a tungsten plug process in which an inductor via is formed in an inductor dielectric and then filled with tungsten. However, due to the considerable thickness of the inductor dielectric, the inductor via displays a high resistance, which limits its performance, especially in high power applications. In an attempt to limit the resistance, some processes have sought to limit the thickness of the inductor dielectric. While this reduces the inductor via resistance, the thinner dielectric, however, also retards the performance of the inductor.
The present invention seeks to address some of the problems encountered with current integrated inductors.